Montreal Alouettes at Edmonton Elks 8/14/21 - CFL Picks & Predictions

The Montreal Alouettes visit the Edmonton Elks on Saturday in the opening game of the regular season for Montreal and Edmonton’s second game of the season. Montreal was 10-8 in 2019 finishing second in the East Division. Montreal has added running Cameron Artis-Payne to replace the retired Jeremiah Johnson. Quarterback Vernon Adams is back under center for Montreal and will operate the Air Raid system of offensive coordinator Hal Mumme that uses the pass to set up the running game.

The Montreal defense will be lacking its leading tackler from 2019 Henoc Muamab who is now with Toronto and top defensive end John Bowman who is a free agent. Defensive end Antonio Simmons, defensive back Greg Reid and defensive back Patrick Levels are the key components to the Montreal defense. Rookie defensive back Adarius Pickett looked strong in training camp and is expected to see plenty of playing time.

Edmonton opened its regular-season last week with a 16-12 loss on the road to Ottawa. Edmonton quarterback Trevor Harris passed for 333 yards and James Wilder Jr. was the leading rusher with 89 yards. Derel Walker led all receivers for Edmonton with 98 yards. The Elks dominated Ottawa statistically but a 102-yard pick 6 by Ottawa turned the game around as Edmonton was driving for a score. Edmonton's Sean Whyte had all the scoring with four field goals.

Trevor Harris has passed for 333 yards and three interceptions, while Derel Walkers is the leading receiver with eight receptions for 98 yards and caught one pass of over 30 yards. James Wilder Jr. has nine receptions for 72 yards. Wilder is the leading rusher with 15 carries for 89 yards. Wilder is averaging 5.9 yards per carry and had two rushes for over 10 yards.